Immigration authorities said Monday that they arrested 2,059 foreigners who were convicted criminals during a five-day nationwide operation in early March, including more than 1,000 people who had committed felonies, among them 58 gang members and 89 sex offenders.
Among those arrested in the sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were 476 criminals who had been deported but came back to the United States. Of those, 163 will face prosecution for the felony of returning illegally, Obama administration officials said.
Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, highlighted the operation at a news conference in Washington, saying it had focused on deporting people who were the department’s top priorities because they posed serious public safety or national security threats.
“Today, communities around the country are safer,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
Showing tough immigration enforcement is central to the administration’s strategy to justify President Obama’s controversial executive actions that would protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. The president said those programs — which currently have been placed on hold by a federal judge in Texas, based on a lawsuit by 26 states — would allow immigrants who had not committed crimes to come forward and register for work permits, allowing federal agents to spend their time pursuing dangerous criminals.
The immigrants arrested came from 94 countries, and their past crimes included manslaughter, rape and distribution of child pornography, officials said. Hundreds of them had convictions for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Immigrant advocates have often asked for leniency for immigrants with drunken driving offenses, saying that in many cases they were workers supporting their families and had been harassed by the local police. But immigration officials said Monday that they regarded those drivers as “a significant public safety threat.”
Republicans in Congress have criticized the president for lax enforcement, pointing to internal data from the immigration agency showing that 68,000 criminals were released in 2013 after they were arrested. In their lawsuit, the 26 states challenge Mr. Obama’s claim that his programs would enhance security.
Source: The New York Times